Sugemi stared angrily at the entire gathering of teams, for reasons known only to him, his eyes changed from being full of cold indifference and calculative wary to complete disgust and a clearly translated desire to punch someone when the Nara's eyes wandered at the side where Team Scuti stood.
"What the fuck was that all about"? Sugemi coldly asked, staring angrily at the Hoshigakure alliance's direction, his eyes lingered on the ghastly looking Tankobaji the longest. The Nara knew better than to let his eyes slip away from this more unstable persona of Gentib for too long. "Mana shows up and suddenly you betray our alliance, is that all that it was worth to you guys, you knew fairly well that I was looking for her before we parted ways".
Relta stared at the Nara with guilt in her eyes. While she hesitated to engage Mana directly, she did nothing to stop those of her alliance that did attack her.
"Don't even bother denying it, Daidao saw everything with his goggles. You bunch taking Mana on, don't go on bullshitting me that you didn't know who she was either", Sugemi growled through his teeth.
"It is true, my googles can lock onto heat signatures, within visible distance, and even see in the dark, they are indeed handy", Daidao noted before tapping the dark tinted goggles of his with his finger.
Tankobaji reached to his chest, Sugemi's eyes followed Gentib's movements very carefully, observing the Hoshigakure genin pull hard on his attire before pulling it all off at once. A whirling cover of flames surrounded the young genin, just a lightshow from a chakra seal placed in his inner pocket. Once the lightshow concluded, Tankobaji was no more and Gentib stood in his usual clothes, his facepaint smeared all over, but otherwise his Idol persona had returned.
"It's true, we didn't do anything to protect Mana, we're sorry. It was a tough call to make – betray our alliance with Team Cephei, who wanted to avenge another team of Hoshigakure, or our alliance with you. Don't take this out on my team, they didn't have their leader amongst their ranks so I couldn't make the call", Gentib replied firmly, showing some genuine regret over not behaving in a very ally-like manner as far as Team Hawthorn was concerned, yet still determined and strong. There was no sign of breaking or subordination between the firm clashing stares of Sugemi and Gentib.
"What were you even doing right here"? Kiyomi asked of Mana.
"I was looking for you guys, I wanted to find you before this fight broke out, I needed to tell you something but… They met further away from the watchtower than I thought. I tried to circle them and just keep on moving but they spotted me", Mana explained.
"And then you took on twelve ninja at once while still recovering from being completely knocked out recently"? Meiko chuckled, teasing Mana.
"It was a question I needed answered. They were fighting in such an impractical manner. Dragging along teams and friends, risking their participations needlessly, I felt like I had to do something", Mana shrugged guiltily.
"Against twelve ninja"? Nanaba smiled at Mana from further away, the girl hid her busted up puppet arms inside her colorful wool and leather cape before walking up to the magician. "You could barely even compete against any single one of them, maybe against two of them if you're lucky. You lucked out they didn't know how to cooperate and attacked you one at a time so that they didn't get in each other's way".
"It doesn't matter how powerful they are", Mana objected, "It was a miscalculation on my part. I am taking this exam seriously because I know what it represents. Everything went just as I planned it to go but then…"
"You froze and couldn't finish what you started, as usual"? Sugemi turned around to squint shamefully at Mana.
"It's not that. I've long since moved past that fear of all violence. It's just that I planned to knock everyone out and… I only considered what elimination stands for outside of this simulation once everyone was already in the genjutsu", Mana bitterly grunted.
"Oh? You eliminating them would've meant you killed them in this mental simulation of real life you ran in your head… Still, exploiting the collective underestimation of twelve people, impressive", Daidao commended the magician before turning away in shame after seeing the eyes that looked his way, after Mana looked back at him.
"Look, you can join in as the third side here, try to take me out. This is entirely on me". Gentib spoke up again.
"Fair enough", Sugemi breathed out before his body blurred as his immensely fast movements made it nearly impossible for a less skilled ninja even to realize he had moved from his place.
"Idol: Crescent Line!" Gentib chanted out, smacking his palms together before blowing out a breath of air from his lungs, infused with chakra, as an invisible yet powerful gust of wind blasted at Sugemi's upper body, sending the young man down and rolling backwards. The Nara of Konoha bounced back on his feet, pushing his entire body off the ground and pressed his hands to his sides, extending his feet to the sides for a more widespread and balanced stance before Daidao's voice broke him out of the technique he was about to use.
"Enough, neither of our teams has a further need to involve ourselves in this pity grievance. Team Scuti betrayed our trust – leaving them to cope by themselves in here is more than a fitting consequence to those actions", the mechanical Jinchuuriki spoke.
"I guess", Sugemi placed his hands inside his pockets as his flowing in the air black hair settled down after the immensely focused chakra exiting his body at the moments leading up to him using his technique ceased. "Let's move then" he uttered before dashing away.
The rest of Team Hawthorn and Team Hokage followed, leaving the two sides to finish battling it out by themselves.
"So, Mana, what was that thing you wanted to tell us"? Kiyomi wondered after turning at the magician as the two teams advanced towards the northern gate – the exit from the Forest of Death.
"Oh… I think you're about to find out. I met the team that's after you – Team Nimbus", Mana explained. "They kind of lured me into thinking they'd be in the big fight back there. They must've thought that I'd tell you and you'd chicken out of it – rushing for the northern gate immediately. That's likely where they're waiting for you right now".
"Huh? Me, chicken out? Are they strong"? Kiyomi wondered.
"Well… Tough to say. I've only seen them messing around. One of them was a six-armed powerhouse – Spyder-Wolf, he looked pretty strong and keeping up with six arms may be troublesome up close".
"Hmph, no one's original these days", Nanaba turned her nose up like a snobby young lady.
"No, I think his four extra arms are actually natural, maybe a trait of his clan. It didn't appear like he built them", Mana shook her head, "The other two are siblings, the brother – Jon-D wields a large sword, looks like a fancy, oversized kitchen knife, honestly. It looked pretty well made and whoever made it used high-tier materials, as expected from Kumogakure blades. His sister looked more of a fast and stabbing type, she had two shorter blades. It is quite possible her fighting style is similar to Hisako-senpai", Mana noted.
"I always hated that stuck up, potty-mouthed bitch, now I'm kind of excited to take those guys on"! Kiyomi punched her palm with an ecstatic smile.
"I'd like a look at that sword", Meiko grinned rubbing the back of her head innocently. "Kumogakure swordsmanship is possibly the best in the world".
"Only because their masters of the past have been taught by the samurai of the Iron Country. No ninja will ever defeat a samurai in a fight", Daidao noted.
"I wouldn't recommend getting involved in this, Mana", Sugemi grumped out.
"Huh? It doesn't look like we'll have a choice, it's most likely they'll literally be blocking the path to the gate", the magician replied.
"Well, we'll be moving on ahead. I just chose to involve myself because I heard about your misfortune and wanted to see it by myself. I still consider you a teammate, Mana, but Daidao had a point back there – this isn't our fight", the Nara noted.
"They don't write manga about heroes that run away from a fight. Also, you'll look really bad if all you do after coming back is get yourself knocked flat by that Hoshigakure weirdo. You need a good showing to improve your feats". Mana teased her old friend.
"Letting you learn the manga tropes was the worst mistake I've ever made", Sugemi sighed. "Fine, I went so far to ensure your safety, it'd be counterproductive to let you get flattened by some asshole with six arms".
Mana knew that Sugemi was way past that whole obsession from his youth and all those silly manga tropes. What he was truly looking inside was a justification to help. He wanted to help Mana but he did not want to cross his team or what he thought was reasonable to do. It was one of those moments where the boy's principles and his heart clashed.
"Ugh, if only I still had my arms… I'd show that rip-off too"! Nanaba steamed in anger and regret of events of recent past.
"You know, you don't really need your arms to fight, Nana-chan", Daidao noted ironically, "You're the Seven-Tails Jinchuuriki, after all".
"Yeah, but if I fight him without my arms it kind of won't be the same. At that point I'm just picking on him for no reason. It should be Battle of Arms or no battle at all, I think Mana's philosophy is rubbing off on me, kind of", the cheerful blonde giggled before cocking her full of air head to the sides to some tune she had stuck in her head.
"That's not even close to my nindo". Mana sighed in disappointment.
After a while of casual paced dashing, interrupted once in a while by wild explosions and shockwaves emanating from behind, coming from the massive scuffle left behind, Meiko slowed down her pace of excited dashing to match up to Mana's pace. The magician was moving a bit slower than the rest of the Konoha alliance as she was tired, wounded and a bit on the down side.
"Is everything OK"? Meiko wondered. "You don't look excited about the fight at all, I guess that's pretty much you, but you don't look too excited about moving on either".
"It's just… I don't think I'm ready anymore. I've tested myself again and again in this exam and failed. That last fight was just how it'll be in the real world – just me in between two fighting sides and I failed to find the right answer, to calm them down and be rational. I'm thinking about quitting the exam, I was so obsessed with survival in it, so unwilling to be thrown out of Team Hokage if I lost that… I didn't think about what's coming up next. I need to grow even more still, I need to find an answer", Mana vented out uneasily.
"Yeah, you've got a massive weakness and now they'll all know it – when you're forced into a situation where the only way out is to kill someone – you fold. I've got weaknesses like that too: I've had them rubbed right up here recently", Meiko tried comforting her friend by pushing her index finger all the way up her cheek while doing so, gesturing at her face. "Everyone's got weaknesses, everyone's a different person. There may not even be a right answer to what you're looking for, but if our journey to find the Box of Ultimate Bliss taught me something it's that the treasure often blows – the journey is the toughest training. You didn't quit that quest halfway, did you? Why give up now"?
"I… I lost the wand. The one you made for me, out of Shimo's sword… I lost it", Mana cried out, grinding her teeth to resist breaking into tears.
"I mean… Yeah, you were knocked out for a long time… It's probably still around here somewhere, of course you've lost it. I've scattered most of my arsenal all over this place", Meiko laughed out.
"None of those weapons are gifts from your best friend crafted out of the last remaining memento of your old friend", Mana muttered.
"You're really an idiot, Mana", Sugemi butt in, he did not turn his head or slow down when he spoke up, the Nara just kept looking on ahead as his feet worked like a well-oiled machine. "Do you think Shimo would give a shit about his stupid sword? Do you think Meiko would give a crap about that stupid wand"?
"I mean… It was a pretty neat wand…" Meiko shrugged with a bitter face. "It's a bit of a waste to just lose it"
Mana could not help but crack a grin, seeing Meiko's face just shift and be molded by her conflicted emotions as her passion for crafting clashed with her friendly feelings towards Mana.
"You idiot, I mean who do you think Shimo would rather sacrifice – his stupid memento or his living friend. He's an idiot who lived his life trying to make women feel better, you were different though, you wasn't just a faceless woman he had an obligation to be courteous with, you were his comrade, his equal, if not his superior".
"Yeah, he kind of moved along with that whole "serve women" stuff, he just wanted to see Mana live up to her dream in the end. He was a man without a nindo, someone who was still discovering himself and Mana was someone who knew exactly who she was", Meiko shrugged recalling Shimo and all the fights Mana had along the way with the Yuki swordsman and the strong bond of friendship that even death couldn't sever, one that tied them together regardless of anything.
"That's right, he admired Mana for having one thing he never had – a sense of purpose, sense of self. People live too short in this world of ours to know who they are or what they're dying for, Shimo must've wanted to become someone who knew exactly why he lived, what he's leaving behind. He didn't want to be meaningless…" Sugemi just stopped talking for a while as it clearly was difficult for him to go on. Mana had to admit that she was barely holding it together as well.
"In a way, he wanted the same thing as I did – to change the world", Mana looked on ahead, lifting her teared up face and letting her messy raven-dark hair move aside and clear the murky and gloomy line of sight for her.
"Yeah, where you want to make people's lives matter, make everyone realize that there aren't any worthless people, Shimo wanted people to discover themselves, like he never had a chance to do", Sugemi nodded.
The party of teams continued to dash onwards in silence.
After the northern gate of Forest of Death came closer and closer – the Konoha alliance stopped in their tracks right at the last stretches before the gate. Right in front of them, sitting on a large stone was a six-armed brute, wearing a pelt of a white canine all the way to the upper half of his face. That gave the man almost a bestial and primal look, dehumanizing him. To the right of the resting Kumogakure ninja stood Jon-D and Jean-D, Team Nimbus was truly waiting for Team Hokage right by the gate to the exit.
"Yamanaka Kiyomi, we've got unfinished business", Spyder-Wolf grinned with a full mouth of white teeth that matched the row of massive fangs covering up the upper half of his face, as the bloodshot eyes of the young man stared at Kiyomi from the pierced out eye holes of the animal that once wore this large pelt as their natural suit.
"Sorry, I'm more interested in your female friend here", Kiyomi firmly shut the six-arms down by nodding with her chin at the short sword wielding, light armored Kumogakure kunoichi. "She brings up memories of someone I really don't like, a face that's very punchable".
"Huh, it appears we've got ourselves a handicapped bloodfest, six on three"! Spyder-Wolf gave every single member of Team Hawthorn and Team Hokage a mean glare.
"Well, good luck with that, Spoods", Jon-D and his sister waved the six-armed giant farewells before turning around and quickly running through the gate and onto the other side of the Forest of Death, leaving both the Konoha alliance and Spyder-Wolf confused on their feet.
"Ummm… Hey…" Spyder-Wolf just exclaimed but no allied ears were present to hear his ill worded complaint.
Mana started to boldly walk towards the six-armed genin, her boldness appeared to confuse him even more than the sudden departure of his teammates.
"Wait, what are you doing"? He muttered.
"This is pointless, you're not beating all of us, move aside", Mana calmly exclaimed.
A blindingly fast cross from his top left arm, diving down, flew at Mana's direction, the magician leaped back only to be surrounded by punches and fists from all sides. She bobbed and weaved with the best of her ability, her unique martial arts style worked its magic. The magician decided to finish it quickly with a strong tap at his elbow – dislocating it and breaking the entire arm.
Unexpected blazing pain blinded Mana's vision - something went wrong. As she whited out from a sudden onslaught of pain, still not very sure about where it came from, the magician weaved backwards before deciding to break up and rolled back. Spyder-Wolf's arm raced after her, reaching in to grab her fleeting foot and smash her to the gate, a well-aimed kunai stopped the advance of his hand mid-way. The magician didn't see who threw it, but she was thankful for the neat timing and aim of her ally.
With her arm broken and dangling pathetically Mana jumped back to the party line. The fighting style of this man was unpredictable and completely unlike anything the magician had seen before. She was used to dodging, countering and disabling people with two arms, she performed her dodges and the counter pitch perfect but the overabundance of arms present on that large lump of flesh, muscle and stolen fur broke her arm with a single lightning fast jab at the side of her elbow. Maybe he'd have not been so successful had Mana's chakra levels been full and more consistent but it wasn't like he threw his most powerful punch either.
"Everyone stays in their place, I have six-arms on me and each one of them is worth three of you weaklings at the very least. That makes all of you losers completely outnumbered"! Spyder-Wolf laughed out like a berserker standing in between a bridge passage to his castle and an entire army.
One thing was for sure – the Kumogakure brute wasn't about to make leaving the Forest of Death easy…